# McClelland - Holiday Spirit



## Nick S. (Jul 10, 2011)

My thoughts on McClelland's Holiday Spirit 2010 Edition. 

I know it may be a little early for a review of a holiday blend, but I figured since McClelland's 2011 holiday blends just went up on smokingpipes.com last week it would be OK.

Tin description:
_This mild, smooth blend of Burley, Virginia, and Cavendish tobaccos is flavored with dark rum, pecan, and cocoa. It brings a warm glow to the coldest winter day. The aroma of a favorite holiday confection wafts from the bowl bringing pipe smoking contentment. _

In the Tin
This stuff smells wonderful! I can smell the pecans and rum in the tin aroma, and it smells good enough to eat. The tobacco is a brown and black confetti of tobacco goodness. The tobacco is a little moist out of the tin, and could benefit from a little drying time to get it to your preferred smoking condition. 

The Burn
I smoked this straight out of the tin, and after letting in dry a little, and it let well with only one or two charring lights necessary. Even straight out of the tin this stuff burned exceptionally well, I only needed to relight once in about 50% of my smokes. I have smoked this in both briars and cobs, in a bent briar I did find that I needed to run a pipe cleaner through the pipe once to alleviate some gurgle, in the cob it burned cleanly with no gurgle. This stuff burns well, not as well as a pure uncased tobacco, but this burns just as good as any other aromatic. The only downside to this was the end where the last few pieces of tobacco did not want to burn. There was also a minor amount of goop in the bottom of my bent briar after the smoke. 

The Smoke
Sweet and a little salty, interesting I know but it works, really well. I love the way this tobacco tastes, there is no real tobacco taste, so if that is what you are looking for look elsewhere, but if you want a pleasant, sweet, and tasty smoke, this could be the stuff for you. I can taste the sweet dark rum in this smoke, and I would bet the saltiness I taste comes from the pecan flavoring. This gives a cool smoke, and I could not get it to bite, which is good news because this stuff tastes so good it can make you want to smoke faster than you should.

The Aroma
Again this stuff smells great, I think one of my friends said it best when he said "that smells freakin awesome".

The Bottom Line
This is a great aromatic tobacco. My tin was from the 2010 stock, and I hope this blend doesn't change much from year to year because I plan on keeping this around. This is a great blend for both the smoker and those around the smoker, it smells great, and tastes even better. This tobacco has quickly jumped to one of my top 3 favorite aromatic tobaccos.


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## gentimmy (Nov 1, 2010)

well that settles it...I was contemplating a tin and it looks like I'll be pulling the trigger


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## Nick S. (Jul 10, 2011)

gentimmy said:


> well that settles it...I was contemplating a tin and it looks like I'll be pulling the trigger


Do it, its good stuff... I dont think the blend changes that much if at all from year to year because it looks like the write-up on the tin is the same.


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## CaptainEnormous (Sep 30, 2010)

Nick S. said:


> Do it, its good stuff... I dont think the blend changes that much if at all from year to year because it looks like the write-up on the tin is the same.


2nd this: Don't believe the blend/topping change year-to-year. At least they didn't in the last few years.

I'm not an aero smoker, generally. They're just to cloying for me. But I've smoked Holiday Spirit on Christmas morning for the last two years, and I plan to buy a tin each Winter from here on out.

Fans of Trout Stream, Best in Show, and other generally sweet aromatics should give this one a try.

Any fellow purists who can't bring themselves to order a goopy aero can feel free to PM me next Fall--I'll gladly share a Christmas bowl-full or -two.


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## piperdown (Jul 19, 2009)

mmmmmmmm, love the Christmas Cheer and now it looks like I'll have to try the Holiday Spirit!

Thanks for a great and insightful review! :tu


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## Troutman22 (Feb 2, 2011)

You guys nailed this review. My 2010 tin was actually the very first tin I smoked from start to finish. I plan on this being a Christmas tradition as well. Along with the CC. Good stuff it certainly is.


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## BloodyCactus (Oct 19, 2010)

I picked up two tins from smokingpipes.com and wow, its nice but dang if its not wet. I dont think I let my first bowl dry out enough and it was not until half way through I guess that it had dried out sufficiently to smoke really nice, but it was hard to start going.

thanks for the heads up nick!


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## pyxistort (Jul 13, 2009)

Great. Another McClelland I can choose. Thank you.


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## JD11 (Aug 21, 2008)

Just got my Christmas Cheer 2011 today , looks like next order will include some Holiday Spirit...


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## quo155 (Aug 10, 2010)

I just got my tin of Holiday Spirit 2010 in today...looking forward to giving it a try (when things cool off) and then it will be on to the 2011!!!

_*Thanks for the review...*_


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